HOW TO SEE | Sophie Taeuber-Arp

Summary

Sophie Taeuber-Arp, a multidisciplinary artist, is explored through the exhibition 'Living Abstraction' at MoMA. Anne Umland, a senior curator, discusses Taeuber-Arp's journey from applied artist to abstract pioneer, using basic geometric forms to create dynamic compositions. Her involvement with the Dada movement and the evolution of her work, especially during WWII, is highlighted. Despite hardships, she continued creating, reflecting a deep-seated urge to beautify the world, which is as relevant today as it was in her time.

Takeaways

• 🌟 Sophie Taeuber-Arp was a multi-disciplinary artist whose work spanned various creative fields but was not widely recognized in her time.
• 🎨 Abstraction for Taeuber-Arp was deeply connected to everyday life, as she created objects and designs with practical uses and interactive spaces.
• 🔍 Initially, she aimed to establish herself as an applied artist and craftsperson, but later discovered a new language of abstraction through her textile grids.
• 📏 Her work evolved from basic vertical and horizontal grid structures to more dynamic and animated compositions using tessellated squares.
• 👩‍🏫 Taeuber-Arp taught textile and embroidery design, encouraging students to return to fundamental principles and explore simple divisions and color applications.
• 🎭 She was an active participant in the Dada movement, which was anti-bourgeois and protested the rationality culture that led to World War I's devastation.
• 🪆 Taeuber-Arp's puppet designs for 'King Stag' in 1918 broke from tradition, using geometric components and visible joints to reimagine the human form.
• 🇫🇷 Moving to Paris allowed her to focus more on fine arts, where she maintained structure along horizontal and vertical axes but introduced subtle irregularities for dynamic compositions.
• 🚫 During World War II, fleeing from Paris led to a shift in her work, with the disappearance of grids and the emergence of free-flowing, lyrical colored pencil drawings.
• 🔍 These later works showcased a balance between the freedom of movement and precise planning, reflecting her ability to find joy in creation amidst hardship.
• 💔 Sophie Taeuber-Arp's life ended tragically at 53 due to accidental carbon monoxide poisoning, leaving behind a legacy of innovative and evolving art.

Q & A

Who is Sophie Taeuber-Arp and why is she significant in the art world?

Sophie Taeuber-Arp was a multidisciplinary artist known for her work across various creative roles. She is significant for her contributions to abstraction, applied arts, and her innovative approach to design and teaching.

What is the connection between Sophie Taeuber-Arp's abstraction and everyday reality?

Sophie Taeuber-Arp's abstraction was connected to everyday reality through her creation of objects and designs meant to be handled, touched, and manipulated, as well as the spaces she designed for people to move about in.

What was Sophie Taeuber-Arp's initial career intent?

Sophie Taeuber-Arp initially intended to make a name for herself as an applied artist and a craftsperson.

How did Sophie Taeuber-Arp's work evolve from textile grids to a new language of abstraction?

She realized that the elemental structure of her textile grids could be used to create a new language of abstraction, translating basic vertical and horizontal lines into vibrant, dynamic compositions using colored paper elements.

What was Sophie Taeuber-Arp's teaching approach at the local trade school in Zurich?

She taught textile and embroidery design, encouraging her students to return to the basics and start over, focusing on simple divisions and pure color use in their designs.

How did the Dada movement influence Sophie Taeuber-Arp's work and life?

The Dada movement, which was anti-bourgeois and protested the rationality that led to World War I, introduced Sophie Taeuber-Arp to new artistic circles. She participated in their events and created puppets for Dada performances, re-imagining the human body with geometric components.

What was the impact of moving to Paris on Sophie Taeuber-Arp's artistic practice?

In Paris, Sophie Taeuber-Arp was freed from her teaching obligations, allowing her to devote more time to her fine arts practice. Her work still maintained a clear structure along horizontal and vertical axes but introduced subtle irregularities for a dynamic composition.

How did Sophie Taeuber-Arp's work change during her displacement due to World War II?

During her displacement, Sophie Taeuber-Arp's work shifted to lyrical colored pencil drawings, reflecting the absence of the rational grid structure and the chaos of the times. Her drawings featured meandering lines that were free yet precisely planned.

What was Sophie Taeuber-Arp's perspective on the importance of art during challenging times?

Despite the hardships she faced, such as worrying about food and living in exile, Sophie Taeuber-Arp believed in the deep and primeval urge to make things beautiful and found joy in the creative act.

How did Sophie Taeuber-Arp's life tragically end?

Sophie Taeuber-Arp died accidentally of carbon monoxide poisoning at the age of 53, due to a closed flue in a guestroom with a wood-burning stove at a friend's home.

What can be inferred about Sophie Taeuber-Arp's final works from the exhibition?

The final works displayed in the exhibition suggest new directions in her art, indicating that had she lived longer, her work might have continued to evolve and surprise the art world.

Outlines

00:00

🎨 Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Pioneer of Abstraction and Applied Art

Sophie Taeuber-Arp, an influential yet lesser-known artist, is introduced by Anne Umland, a senior curator at the Museum of Modern Art. Umland highlights Taeuber-Arp's multidisciplinary approach, which initially focused on applied arts and crafts but evolved into a unique language of abstraction. The artist's work involved creating objects and designs for interactive spaces, utilizing basic textile grids to develop vibrant compositions with colored paper elements and tessellated squares. Taeuber-Arp's teaching emphasized returning to basics, encouraging students to explore simple geometric forms and color combinations. Her involvement with the Dada movement, introduced by her husband Hans Arp, led to the creation of puppets with geometric components, challenging traditional puppet-making. Her move to Paris marked a significant shift in her practice, focusing more on fine arts and introducing subtle irregularities to her structured compositions.

05:04

🌟 Evolution and Resilience: Taeuber-Arp's Artistic Journey Amidst War

The second paragraph delves into the evolution of Sophie Taeuber-Arp's work during the tumultuous period of World War II. As she and her husband fled Paris, her art took a new lyrical direction with colored pencil drawings, a shift necessitated by limited art supplies and a nomadic lifestyle. The structured grids of her earlier work disappeared, replaced by free-flowing, meandering lines that were meticulously planned. Despite the hardships of displacement and the struggle for daily necessities, Taeuber-Arp continued to find joy and purpose in her creative process. Her reflections on the value of art during challenging times resonate with the idea that the pursuit of beauty is a fundamental human instinct. The paragraph concludes with the tragic accidental death of Taeuber-Arp and a contemplation of the new directions her art might have taken had she lived longer, leaving a lasting impression with her final works on display.

Keywords

💡Sophie Taeuber-Arp

Sophie Taeuber-Arp was a Swiss artist known for her work across various disciplines, including painting, sculpture, and textile design. Her name is central to the video's theme, which explores her diverse contributions to the world of abstract art. The script discusses her journey from an applied artist to a pioneer in abstraction, highlighting her innovative use of geometric forms and color.

💡Abstraction

Abstraction in the context of this video refers to the artistic practice of creating works that may not depict or represent anything from the physical world but instead focus on form, color, and composition. Taeuber-Arp's work is deeply connected to abstraction, as she developed a unique language of abstract forms, as evidenced by her use of grids and geometric shapes in her art.

💡Applied Art

Applied art is a term used to describe the practical application of art in everyday objects or environments. Initially, Taeuber-Arp intended to make a name for herself as an applied artist and craftsperson, creating designs for textiles and other objects. However, her work evolved to encompass a broader range of abstract art forms.

💡Textile Grids

Textile grids are a recurring motif in Taeuber-Arp's work, representing the basic structure of her designs. The script describes how she used these grids as a foundation to create new abstract compositions, translating them into various media such as paper cutouts, murals, and stained glass.

💡Dada

Dada is an art movement characterized by its anti-bourgeois, anti-rational stance, which emerged as a reaction to the horrors of World War I. Taeuber-Arp was introduced to the Dada group by her husband, Hans Arp, and became an active participant, creating puppets for performances that challenged traditional puppet-making techniques.

💡Elementary Geometric Components

The term refers to the basic shapes and forms such as squares, circles, and rectangles that Taeuber-Arp used to construct her abstract compositions. The script mentions how she re-imagined the human body using these components, leaving the joints visible to emphasize the structure of her work.

💡Teaching Philosophy

Taeuber-Arp's teaching philosophy is highlighted through her encouragement for students to return to basics and start over in their design practice. The script provides an example of her exercise to divide a square in simple ways and explore different line expressions, indicating her belief in the importance of foundational skills in art.

💡Mural Painting

Mural painting is a form of painting applied directly on a wall, ceiling, or other large surfaces. Taeuber-Arp's work in mural painting is mentioned in the script as one of the mediums where she translated her abstract shapes and designs, showcasing her versatility as an artist.

💡Irregularities

Irregularities in Taeuber-Arp's work refer to the subtle deviations from perfect symmetry or alignment in her compositions. The script describes how these small irregularities contribute to the dynamism of her work, adding a sense of movement and liveliness to her structured designs.

💡Displacement

Displacement in the context of the video refers to Taeuber-Arp's experience of fleeing her home due to World War II and the impact this had on her work. The script notes a shift in her art during this period, with the disappearance of grids and the emergence of free-flowing line drawings that reflect her personal circumstances.

💡Creative Act

The creative act is the process of making art or engaging in creative work. The script emphasizes Taeuber-Arp's commitment to the creative act despite the challenges of war and displacement, illustrating her resilience and the importance she placed on the joy of creation.

Highlights

Sophie Taeuber-Arp worked across multiple disciplines and genres, making her hard to categorize historically.

Anne Umland, a senior curator at MoMA, co-curated the exhibition 'Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Living Abstraction.'

For Sophie Taeuber-Arp, abstraction was always connected to everyday reality through objects and designs meant to be interacted with.

Taeuber-Arp began her career as an applied artist and craftsperson, but she soon realized her textile grids could create a new language of abstraction.

Her early work features basic vertical and horizontal grids in bright colors, later evolving into dynamic compositions with tessellated squares.

Taeuber-Arp translated her grid patterns across various mediums, including mural painting, cardboard relief, and stained glass.

While teaching textile and embroidery design in Zurich, she encouraged students to deconstruct and reinvent basic forms.

Taeuber-Arp's designs often began with simple exercises, like dividing a square naturally and filling in fields with pure colors.

In 1915, she met Hans Arp and joined the Dada group, participating in their performances and adopting their anti-bourgeois ethos.

Taeuber-Arp created marionettes for the puppet play King Stag in 1918, reimagining human bodies as geometric forms.

Moving to Paris marked a shift in her work, allowing her more time to focus on her fine arts practice and evolve her structured designs.

During World War II, Taeuber-Arp's work became more lyrical, influenced by her displacement and scarcity of materials.

Her later drawings abandoned grid structures for meandering lines, reflecting both freedom and precise planning.

Despite wartime hardships, she continued to find joy in creating art, even while struggling with basic needs.

Taeuber-Arp died in 1943 from carbon monoxide poisoning, leaving behind a legacy of innovative and evolving art.

Transcripts

Sophie Taeuber-Arp is far from a household name.  The way that she worked across disciplines and  

genres and creative roles are a real positive now,  but it means that in the past, it was hard to say,  

oh, who is Sophie Taeuber-Arp? My name is  Anne Umland. I'm a senior curator in the  

department of painting and sculpture here  at the Museum of Modern Art and I am one of  

the four co-curators of the exhibition,  Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Living Abstraction. 

For Sophie Taeuber-Arp, abstraction was always  connected to an everyday lived reality. She was  

making objects or designs for things to be handled  and touched and manipulated. She's creating spaces  

for people to move about in. When  she began her career, it was with  

the intent of making a name for herself as  an applied artist and as a craftsperson. 

But what happens is that she has the realization  that this elemental structure of her textile  

grids could be used to create a new language of  abstraction. And you can watch her take those  

basic vertical and horizontals in those very  bright colors. If you just shift right to the work  

to the right, you can see how the grid here is  now translated and cut out colored paper elements.  

Or here on this wall, you can watch her sort of  explode the grid into this much more dynamic,  

animated type of composition and form with all  these little individual tessellated squares. 

And then we can watch, as she  translates these same basic  

shapes to a mural painting to a  cardboard relief to stained glass.  

During these same years in Zurich, Sophie  Taeuber-Arp is teaching at the local trade school.  

She teaches textile and embroidery design and she  encourages her students to go back to the very  

basics. It's almost as though she's saying let's  take everything apart so we can start over again. 

If you want to practice designing, you might try  the following. Draw a square and try to divide it  

in the most natural and simple way with an  eye to using the forms or dividing lines  

as decorations. Then as a further exercise,  make somewhat more complicated divisions  

and fill in the various fields with two or  three pure colors. You might start with a line.  

Attempt to discover what expression you can obtain  by means of different wavy or zig-zagged lines. 

In 1915, Sophie Taeuber-Arp meets  an artist and a poet named Hans Arp  

and he introduces her to a number of members of  the Dada group and she performs at their events  

and is very much a participant. Dada I think set  out to be undefinable. Raucus performances and  

nonsense poetry readings, and all the rest. But fundamentally it was an anti-bourgeois  

movement that protested what they saw as the  culture of rationality that had led to the  

unprecedented devastation and carnage of World War  I. Here, we're just looking at some of the puppets  

that Taeuber-Arp created for the puppet play King  Stag in 1918. Prior to this within the sort of  

folk tradition of puppet making the goal was to  make your marionettes as lifelike as possible. 

And Sophie Taeuber-Arp takes a very different  approach, re-imagining the human body not made  

up of flesh and blood and bone, but of these  elementary geometric components. She leaves  

the way that they're put together  visible so that you see the joints. 

When she gets to Paris and to France, that sort  of marks another major shift in her practice.  

For the first time during her mature career,  she was freed from her teaching obligations  

and she was able to devote more time to her fine  arts practice. Her textile grid structure in a  

way has gone underground, but still everything is  very clearly structured, right along horizontal  

and vertical axes. By introducing subtle  irregularities, just the way like this  

little rectangle doesn't quite touch that circle,  those little tiny irregularities and decisions add  

up to a particularly dynamic form of composition. This wall is just interesting to look at because  

you can see like that same shape, this almost  half of amphora shape. She cuts it in half,  

moves it around. She turns it upside down.  Pieces talk, positive and negatives come  

in and out of focus. And again, that's a way of  just like watching her language kind of evolve. 

In June of 1940, Taeuber-Arp and her husband  flee their home just outside Paris days before  

the Germans march in. There her work takes  another shift and she begins to make these  

absolutely lyrical colored pencil drawings. This  is in part dictated by her circumstances by the  

scarcity of art supplies and that she's in large  part during this period making works on the move.  

For the first time, you see the grids just gone.  It's almost as though that rational structure  

and the face of the chaos of World War II and  Taeuber-Arp s displacement just wasn't adequate.  

She begins to make these meandering line drawings  that are remarkably free in the way that they look  

or the movement that they evoke, but that are as  precisely planned as everything else that you've  

seen in this show. She outlines her lines and she  fills them in with countless little velvety marks. 

We know from her letters, she worries every  day about how to find food. She spends hours,  

she says, standing on line waiting  for butter. Then at the same time,  

in the same sentence she says, and then I made  six drawings. It's a radical thing, I think,  

to continue to find joy in the creative  act when you're worrying about how you're  

going to have food on the table, when  you're living in isolation and in exile. 

In our complicated times, I have frequently asked  myself why we do such embroideries at all when  

there are so many more practical and especially  more necessary things to do. I believe the urge  

to make the things more beautiful is a deep and  primeval one. Only when we go into ourselves  

and attempt to be entirely true to ourselves  will we succeed in making things of value,  

living things, and in this way, help to  develop a new style that's fitting for us 

In 1943, just a few days shy of her 54th  birthday, Sophie Taeuber-Arp died accidentally  

of carbon monoxide poisoning. She went to  the home of a friend of theirs, Max Bill, and  

used a guestroom that had a wood-burning stove.  She didn't realize that the flute was closed and  

so never woke up again. This gallery contains on  the wall behind me the last works that she made.  

If you look at those drawings, you  might notice that they look like  

nothing you've seen. Really the exhibition  ends as much as anything else with  

new directions and with a thought of had  Sophie Taeuber-Arp lived, just imagine.